The ornate beauty of Moscow’s palatial metro stations

For many commuters around the world, a subway journey means speeding from one drab station to the next, surrounded by too many uncomfortable, impatient bodies. But on the Moscow Metro, taking the subway is akin to walking through a national heritage site.

Depending on where you get off, you’ll receive a crash course in such diverse architectural movements as Baroque, Art Deco or Futurism, and face stained glass windows, marble columns, crystal chandeliers, gilded mosaics and painted scenes from Russian history.

Read: Capturing the vast beauty of the Arctic with just pastel on paper

“They’re just these extraordinarily beautiful places that are unlike any metro station I’d ever seen,” says Vancouver-based photographer David Burdeny.

Palaces for the people

In 2014, Burdeny traveled to Russia to produce the first formal study of these architectural wonders for his series Russia: A Bright Future. In all, he photographed 20 of the most beautiful stations.

Strahov Abbey library, Prague, Czech Republic —

15 of the world's most exquisite libraries

Strahov Abbey library, Prague, Czech Republic

Tripitaka Koreana —

Tripitaka Koreana, Haeinsa Temple, South Korea

The Library: A World History is the most complete account of library buildings to date. Here James Campbell and Will Pryce take us on a virtual journey through some of their favorites.

Will Pryce: "Visiting this library was an extraordinary, if fraught, experience. We hiked up a mountain only to be told that we weren't allowed to photograph the interior. Fortunately we had a Korean student of James's with us who pleaded with the Abbott and little by little we negotiated our way in. First we could take a picture through the door, then from just inside and so on. The collection is revelatory because you realize that you are looking, not at books, but printing blocks and that they date from 1251 -- reminding us that the Koreans were printing for centuries before Gutenberg."

Tianyi Chamber, Ningbo —

Tianyi Chamber, Ningbo, China

James Campbell: "This is the oldest surviving Chinese library, dating from 1561. It is very dark because you were not intended to read inside, but to take your book to the garden or perhaps your room. The books have since been removed so this is the last picture that will ever be taken with the books on the their original shelves."

The Peabody Library, Baltimore —

The Peabody Library, Baltimore, U.S.

Will Pryce: "This is an extraordinary space, a temple to the industrial age which creates an almost cathedral-like effect. There are thousands of books wherever you look and gorgeous ornate balustrades. Despite all the classical details it's actually made of iron and spans the weight of this huge library above the concert hall below."

Biblioteka Malatestiana —

Biblioteca Malatestiana, Cesena, Italy

James Campbell: "This is the closest you can get to what a medieval library looked like. It was built for Malatesta Novello, a member of a prominent Italian aristocratic family, and it still contains original books, in their original places."

Merton College Library, Oxford —

Merton College Library, Oxford, UK

James Campbell: "Although the building was completed in 1373 and is one of the oldest academic libraries in the world still in continuous daily use, the fittings date from the late sixteenth century. It is less ornate than Rococo libraries in palace or monastery complexes, because universities did not have access to the same amount of money, but it is still extraordinarily beautiful."

Biblioteca Marciana, Venice —

Biblioteca Marciana, Venice, Italy

Will Pryce: "It's an extraordinary piece of design, a statement of confidence by the Venetian Republic. It lies at the center of Jacopo Sansovino's scheme to re-design St Mark's square, though the building was completed after his death. The vestibule houses the Grimani collection of classical sculpture under a ceiling by Titian. While the original lecterns have gone, the superb interior design of the library gives us a sense of the richness of Venetian cultural life in this period."

The Bodleian Library, Oxford —

The Bodleian Library, Oxford, UK

Will Pryce: "Arts End is one of most lovely corners of the group of libraries that constitute the Bodleian. Under the galleries there are little desks where readers face the bookshelves of one of the earliest wall-system libraries."

Admont Abbey library, Admont, Austria —

Admont Abbey library, Admont, Austria

James Campbell: "This is one of the largest monastic libraries ever built. The whole thing is a complete work of art. The corridors and staircase that leads to it is relatively simple, so when you enter this stunning space flooded with light there is almost a moment of revelation, a theatrical effect. There are no desks to work at because these library rooms were never intended for study, but for impressing visitors. The books were taken back to the monks' warm cells to be read. It was built in 1776, a piece de resistance of rococo design."

Most beautiful libraries in the world —

Philips Exeter Academy Library, New Hampshire, U.S.

James Campbell: "This is perhaps the largest high school library ever constructed. From the outside it looks like a severe brick box punctured by windows. The inside is completely different. The main space rises the whole height of the building and the bookcases are behind the dominating concrete structure. Students can read with privacy on carrels next to the windows which they can decorate with their own possessions."

Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra —

Biblioteca Joanina, Coimbra, Portugal

Will Pryce: "This is a very imposing library from a time when Portugal was extremely wealthy and powerful. It is very dark but features intricate gold leaf which gives it magical luminosity. The backs of the bookcases each have different color, and there are integrated ladders that pull out, and secret doors that lead to reading rooms."

The Escorial Library, Madrid —

The Escorial Library, San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain

WIill Pryce: "This library was ground-breaking. It established the template of using books to decorate the walls of the library which we've been using ever since. The great hall is a harmonious combination of bookshelves, books and a wonderful painted ceiling. It was complete by 1585 and influenced everything that followed it."

Most beautiful libraries in the world —

Mafra Palace Library, Mafra, Portugal

James Campbell: "The Mafra Palace Library in Mafra, Portugal is at 88 meters the longest Rococo monastic library in the world. Sadly the original designs are lost but we think it would have been covered in gold leaf with an ornate painted ceiling. However, because the construction lasted from 1717 to 1771, by the time it was completed a simplified decoration was adopted. The library also hosts a colony of bats who come out at night to feed on the insects who would otherwise eat the books."

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library —

Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, New Haven, U.S.

James Campbell: "Outside it looks like a white box, so there is an element of surprise when you go in. All light comes through the stones in the wall, and the honey-color trickle of sun rays makes it magical. It is one of the largest buildings in the world devoted entirely to rare books and manuscripts, and it is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The elegance of the Beinecke later inspired the glass-walled structure that holds the original core collection of the British Library."

Utrecht University Library —

Utrecht University Library, Utrecht, Holland

Will Pryce: "This is best solution I have seen to the problems of building a library on a contemporary scale. From the outside it's a simple rectangle but inside a series of voids have been opened up creating a complete variety of spaces to work. There are secluded areas for those who like to be surrounded by books and more open ones for those who prefer to be around people. It seemed hugely popular with the students."

15 of the world's most exquisite libraries

Prev Next

Burdeny, who himself has a master’s degree in architecture as well as a bachelor’s in interior design, first found out about Moscow’s metro stations while working on a separate series on Italian palaces and theaters. He was struck by the use of opulent architecture to elevate an otherwise drab destination into a work of art.

Read: The ‘Golden Age’ of Arab cinema resurrected in a Beirut basement

“Typically, a metro station is a pedestrian place which serves as a utilitarian device to get you from one place to another. But these were extraordinarily built and constructed, [with] a whole architectural narrative built into them.”

In many ways, Moscow owes its elaborate undergrounds to dictator Joseph Stalin. Russia’s first metro system, part of his first Five-Year Plan to rapidly industrialize the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s, was meant to show its citizens – and the world – the power and possibilities the Communist Party presented.

Burdeny had originally planned to focus on Russian stations more generally, taking photos of examples in both St Petersburg and Moscow.

Read: A rare glimpse inside North Korea’s “socialist fairyland”

“But when I saw the ones in Moscow, they just completely blew away the St Petersburg stations,” he says, citing the Baroque Komsomolskaya Metro Station as the one that best “reinforced the idea that these were palaces for the people.”

Challenges on the ground

Shooting in the subway sounds simple, but it was not without challenges. For one, Burdeny had to figure out a way to access them between 12:30 am and 5:30 am, when the stations were closed.

He spent a year trying to secure permissions to shoot independently before hiring a Russian producer to help him secure the necessary permits and liaise with local authorities, which took another six months.

Komsomolskaya Metro Station

And while it was easy enough to enter most stations, some proved challenging.

“There was one time that we got there, and [the security guard] had an issue with me being from North America, and wanted to know if Canada was involved in the sanctions against them,” he recalls. “Sometimes it was easy to get in, but then there was the odd person who was running the place who really didn’t want to deal with me.”

An impossible goal

Looking back at his study, Burdeny finds it difficult to choose a favorite image. Each brings back a specific story or experience.

In the end, he settles on the opulent white Arbatskaya Metro Station, whose barrel vaulted arches he finds the most spatially beautiful. But it also represents a challenge he’s not sure he was able to overcome: conveying the sheer immensity of the spaces. The Arbatskaya platform, for example, stretches 820 feet.

Read: Eritrea’s playground of futurist architecture

“Some of them are quite long, and the proportions are really elegant,” he says. “The scale doesn’t really translate that well once you see the image, but when you enter them, they’re just so completely grand.”